Hope?: Hell on Planet Earth 12"

Hope?: Hell on Planet Earth 12” (Desolate Records) After a tape and a 7” EP, Minneapolis crusties Hope? delivers their first full-length, and it feels like their magnum opus. Hope?’s previous EP had a very 90s crust sound with a two-vocalist style that reminded me of Nausea, and while that style is still a big part of their sound on Hell on Planet Earth, Hope? expands their purview without making anything I’d call a stylistic departure. One of the strongest things about Hell on Planet Earth is the way each song has a distinct vibe. Every track explores a related but distinct nook of the crusty hardcore universe. As you might expect given the cover art nod to Antisect’s In Darkness, There Is No Choice., I hear a lot of UK crust influence in the meditative opener “Another World” and the churning, stenchcore-style sections in “Flowers for Ghosts,” while tracks like “Disconnected” and “Leeches” have more of that 90s US crust sound we heard on Hope?’s earlier material. Throughout the record, the riffs are interesting, with a Nigthfeeder-esque touch of groovy catchiness on “Mycelium” and “The Spiral” getting a bit more metal, its memorable main riff sounding like Metallica via English Dogs. Hope?’s music never colors outside the lines of crusty hardcore, but they find plenty of room to be thoughtful and interesting within the genre’s boundaries. The same goes for the lyrics, which consistently find fresh approaches to familiar topics like animal rights and environmentalism. The beautiful lyric booklet extends this approach, annotating the lyrics with illustrations and collages firmly grounded in the traditional anarcho aesthetic without feeling like a retread. Hell on Planet Earth is so firmly grounded in its crust universe that it might not interest outsiders, but any lifelong crusty will have a hard time resisting the way this album breathes new life into classic sounds.